The source suggests that Sir Alex Ferguson’s interest in Barcelona custodian Victor Valdes will lead to Chelsea in turn making a move for the Old Trafford keeper who has come in for a fair bit of criticism, on the whole unfairly, this season.

Quite why Chelsea would be pursuing De Gea is not instantly obvious.

The Stamford Bridge side would seemingly have no issue with their number one starter Petr Cech, who at 30 years of age is relatively young in goalkeeping terms, and with talented Belgian Thibaut Courtois coming along nicely during his two season long loan spells at Atletico Madrid, there seems little need to make a move for another goalie.

The 22 year old Man United man had a tricky first season in the English top tier, with many doubting Ferguson’s judgement as well as the £18.9m fee the club spent on the young keeper, but this season De Gea has more than proven himself and his display against Real Madrid in the Champions League encounter earlier this month went some way to silencing his remaining doubters.

David de Gea has conceded just eight goals in his last 11 Man United appearances.